


They Learn To Live With The Unimaginable

by Singing_Siren



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Gen, Lucifer gets glared at, Multi, Nonbinary Character, chloe sighs, mazikeen flirts a lot, mazikeen loves ladies, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 12:36:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13717818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singing_Siren/pseuds/Singing_Siren
Summary: Ash is a regular kid who finds out something big about themself when they meet a certain devil.





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> This is my rewrite version! Yay, I finished it! Please enjoy.

  
The tears always threaten to make an appearance when it’s the most dangerous. Like when Ben bares his teeth in his attempt of a smile. Or when he leaves bruises and aches that stay with Ash for the better part of the week. The tears never fall, but they’re always there. Always watching.

Ash Marks. Average student. They get straight A’s and never miss a day of school. But the tears are evidence that everything is not as it seems. Their parents don’t notice when they come home covered in bruises or blood, and if they do notice, it isn’t brought up. Ash is adopted. They remember small details about their parents. Their mom had blonde, flowing hair and blue eyes that put the ocean to shame. Their dad had scruffy red hair and a laugh that reminds them of the feeling of lying in a field with the sun shining down and the smell of flowers gracing your nose.

Just bits and pieces of memories. Just enough to keep Ash hoping. Hoping that something good will happen to them.

-

Lucifer smirks as he walks towards Chloe’s desk at the precinct. His day has been boring and he wishes to pick things up a notch with solving a grisly murder. Such fun.

His smirk grows as sees Mazikeen sitting in the chair next to the detective, her feet up on the desk. She has obviously been flirting, if the blush on the detective’s cheeks is anything to go by.

“Lucifer,” Chloe interrupts Maze’s innuendos, “we have a case. Let’s go.” She stands up and pushes past Lucifer on her way to the door.

-

Lucifer slams the door of Chloe’s car and grimaces. The body is in a church. He hates cases like these. So much for a fun grisly murder.

“Come on, Lucifer,” Chloe says and motions for him to follow her into the church. She ignores his protests and asks Ella, “What do we got?”

“Hey! We have got a very badly burned, teenage body,” she says enthusiastically.

“Well, yes, we can see that,” Lucifer butts in with a frown. “What happened to them?”

“I assume that they were drenched in a flammable liquid and then burned. Also, they were dead before the burning took place. Do you think it has anything to do with the church theme?”

“Maybe. We can’t know until we find out who this kid is.” Chloe says goodbye to Ella and leads Lucifer out of the church.

“I have a bad feeling about this, detective.”

“I thought you were bored? And aren’t you happy to be leaving the church?”

“I am bored, and I am happy. But something bad is going to happen before the end of this case.”

-

Ash’s day has not been the best. Ben was luckily absent, but his lackeys came at them with a passion. Even worse, their best friend, Jason, hasn’t shown up to school yet. He’s the only one who understands what Ash is going through.

Their high school they go to is not the most accepting, but there is one student who smiles at them no matter what he’s going through. Jason. He gets the same treatment Ash gets because he’s trans. Ash is nonbinary and high school is not the best time to come out.

Jason is the highlight to Ash’s day, every day. But apparently not today.

They are sitting in math class and staring at the board because they finished their worksheet ten minutes ago. Math is their favorite subject but their least favorite teacher. Five minutes left in class. Four minutes forty seconds. Four minutes thirty seconds. Four minutes fifteen seconds.

The door opens and it pushes Ash out of their thoughts. A nervous kid walks into the room with a note. He reads it and most of the talking in the classroom stops.

“Mr. Carver has asked Ms. Marks to his office?” It comes out as a question, because he recognises Ash from the GSA that Ash had attended with Jason once or twice. They understand that he doesn’t want to misgender them but they still cringe.

The math teacher, Mr. Doe, clears his throat and nods his head towards the door. “Get out Ms. Marks.”

Ash picks up their things and quickly follows the boy out the door. He mutters a ‘sorry’ and leads them to Mr. Carver’s office.

-

“Our victim is one Jason Bennett. Changed his name to Jason after he came out to his parents as trans two years ago. He goes to Stone High School,” Ella explains to Lucifer, Chloe, and Mazikeen. “He was not the most popular kid in school. Apparently, he only had one friend. Ashley Marks, the only other kid who got beat up more than Jason.”

“Stone High School,” Chloe says slowly, “that’s near Trixie’s school.” She turns to Lucifer. “Let’s go, I’ll drive.”

“I’m coming with you,” Mazikeen interjects before the two can get out of the room.

“Maze, you’re a bounty hunter, and might I add, not great with children.”

“I’m better with children than you are, Luci. And I can scare them into submission.” A mischievous smirk forms on her face and Chloe sighs.

“Fine, but let me do the talking.”

They make their way to Chloe’s car and Lucifer protests as Mazikeen calls shotgun. He climbs in the back. The ride to the school isn’t long and they arrive before Chloe kicks Mazikeen out of the car.

The three approach the front desk of the school and Chloe tells the secretary that they need to speak to the principal, Mr. Carver.

-

Ash opens Mr. Carver’s door and is surprised to see three people and no principal.

“Hello, Ms. Marks,” the blond woman tells them with a smile. “Please, sit down.”

Ash sits in the chair opposite the three and fidgets under the eyes of them.

The man talks to them next. “Hello, my name is Lucifer Morningstar,” Ash raises their eyebrows,

“These are my associates. Mazikeen, or Maze, she’s the one with the murderous look in her eyes. And Detective Decker, she is with the LAPD. Maze and I are consultants. Do you know why we asked you here?”

Ash took in the names and their eyebrows furrowed, but they shook their head through the confusion.

“We were told that,” Detective Decker continues for Lucifer, “you were one of Jason’s friends. Is that true?”

Ash’s mind races with possibilities, what did the detective mean by ‘was’? Ash nods and glances at Mazikeen. The woman had been looking at them this whole time without saying anything.

“Okay, we have some bad news.” the detective pauses and looks Ash in their eyes, “Jason is dead.”

Ash’s eyes widen and their shoulder stiffen. What? How could this happen? He was the only one left for Ash. Now he’s gone. How? Why?

Tears have started to appear in their eyes, but they don’t fall. They never fall.

A simple ‘what’ is all they can say, and even then,their voice cracks.

“We understand that this is a hard time for you, but we need you to answer our questions,” the detective waits for Ash to nod before she continues. “We know that Jason was bullied before he died, but is there anyone who would kill him?”

Ash let out a wet chuckle as a tear falls down their face. “That is a tricky question.”

Lucifer and the Decker look at each other in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, there are plenty of people who have threatened his life,but who would actually do it? That’s the tricky part.” Out of the corner of Ash’s eyes, they see Mazikeen’s face contort with barely suppressed anger. When somebody finally speaks, it’s Lucifer.

“Who was threatening Jason?” His voice is compelling them to tell the truth, but they sense he’s more angry than he lets on.

“There is this one guy, Ben Stille. He is the one who leads the group that beats us up.”

“He beats you up as well?” Lucifer asks with concern, “how old are you?”

Defensively, Ash wipes the tear’s path off their face. “I’m 16.”

“Okay. So tell me, Ms. Marks,” he files away Ash’s cringe for later, “what do you desire more than anything else in this world?”

Ash looks into Lucifer’s eyes and is filled with desire for what could be. They get the urge to tell him every little problem in their life.

“I want my family back, or my new parents to love me. I want the kids at school to accept me for my gender and sexuality. I want-” their voice cracks, but they go on, “I want my best friend back.”

The three opposite from Ash don’t say anything as Ash realises what they said moments before. They get up from their chair and rush out of the room, slamming the door on their way out.

-

When the student that Mr. Carver had said was Jason’s only friend walked into the room, Mazikeen perked up. She could smell something off with the human but was not sure what. As the interview progressed, Maze figured out what some of the smell was. Blood. The human was bleeding.

When Maze heard that there were bullies involved, she could barely contain her anger. The human was probably bleeding because of the bullies. Maze’s eyes widened imperceptibly at the mention of Ash’s desires.

As Ash runs out of the room, Maze turns to Lucifer and tells him that she is going after them. She follows the smell of fear and blood. It leads her to a stairwell on the other side of the school. She guesses that it is the least used one judging by the missing smell of human. Maze hears the sound of crying and quietly walks to the part under the stairwell where Ash is sitting. They have their knees up to their chest and their head tucked between their arms on top of their knees. Their short cut hair, that Maze expects they cut by themself, is pooling around their head. They flinch and move towards the wall as Maze sits down next to them.

“Are you okay?” Maze’s voice is soft and Ash looks up through their bangs. Their eyes ask her ‘why?’ Why are you doing this?

“You-” Maze pauses, picking her words carefully, “You need somebody right now, and you don’t have Jason anymore. You can talk to me. I won’t tell anybody else and I can help you with your bully problem.”

“You can stop them?”

The hopeless tone to their voice almost breaks Maze’s demonic heart.

“I can scare them enough to never bother you again. Now, I ask again, are you okay?”

“Okay,” Ash says, “is a relative term. But, I am not going to share all my feelings with someone I don’t know.”

“Isn’t that what therapy is?” The sides of Maze’s mouth turn upward in a sly smile. It got the intended reaction out of Ash, a smile.

“My guardians won’t let me go to therapy. They say that I’m already messed up enough.”

“Do you want me to scare some sense into them to?”

Ash smiles again and brushes their tears off their cheeks. “How did you follow me?”

“You smell of blood and fear.” Ash’s eyes widen and they lift their head from their knees.

“What?”

“I just followed your scent. I’m a demon bounty hunter.”

Ash pauses, their mouth agape, before saying, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll believe just about anything right now.”

-

  
This is the only human that has accepted Maze’s demonity without her having to prove it in a long time. But then again, Ash is hurting right now.

“Don’t you have any questions?”

Ash’s face gets excited and they move to sit with their back to the wall. “Of course I do! But I wasn’t sure if you wanted to tell me.” Their smile becomes embarrassed.

“How about, we take a raincheck on that and you come back with me to Decker and Lucifer?”

Ash slowly nods and raises themself from the floor.

“But first, what name do you go by? I couldn’t help but notice that you aren’t comfortable with the old one.”

“Ash, and they/them pronouns please.”

“Of course, heuning.”

-

Chloe turns to Lucifer as Mazikeen walks out of the room. “Seriously, Lucifer? The poor child has just lost her only friend.”

“I’m sorry, Detective. There’s something off about her. I don’t know what yet.”

“Well,” Chloe glares at him, “don’t bring it up again.”

“Okay, okay. What else are we doing today?”

“We are waiting for Mazikeen and then interviewing Ben Stille.”

-

Mazikeen opens the door to Mr. Carver’s office and glares at Lucifer. She lets Ash past her and stands behind Chloe.

“Why is everybody glaring at me?”

Ash smiles at the way Maze hits him after he said that. “What else did you want to know about Jason?” Most of the tears have dried and Ash’s voice is clear now.

Chloe looks at Maze before speaking and when she nods, Chloe starts. “Do you know where Jason spent most of his time outside of school?”

“There is an abandoned restaurant near both of our houses where gay and trans kids hang out to get away from their parents. I could show you where it is after school? I’m supposed to go there anyway. I guess I have to tell everybody that Jason’s dead.”

Maze gives Ash a rare smile and turns to Chloe. “Lucifer has a session with Linda later, but I can go with you.”

“Okay,” Chloe nods, “one last question. Do you know what class Ben is in right now?”

Ash grins and tells her that he is in chemistry. They know that when the three interview him, Mazikeen won’t go easy on him.

Chloe tells them that they can go back to their class and Ash internally groans. It must have shown on their face because Maze chuckles and says she’ll pick them up from school at four.

Ash shows up to their next class with a rare smile which quickly disappears before anyone else can see. Only five more classes to go.

-

Mazikeen pulls Lucifer aside after Ash leaves. “Do you feel it too?”

“What, that Ms. Marks is special? Yes, I do.”

“Not Ms., Luci” Mazikeen says with a small glare. “Their name is Ash with they and them pronouns.”

“Okay, thank you for telling me Mazikeen. They are special, in a spiritual way.”

“Lucifer,” Maze pauses, “They smell of blood and fear, but there’s something more to it. They remind me of someone I used to know.”

“Hey,” Chloe interrupts their conversation, “Mr. Carver has sent Ben to us.” Upon seeing the mischievous grin that Mazikeen puts on her face she adds, “Don’t hurt him, even if he is a bully. He’s still a kid.”

The interview with Ben doesn’t take long. He claims that Jason had been a nice kid and that he would never hurt someone. When Lucifer asked him what he desired, Ben answered that he wanted to be a professional football player. Mazikeen only showed her true face for half a second. It left Ben horrified and trembling but Maze doesn’t feel that that was enough. Chloe had to calm the demon down so that she would not do more.

Ben leaves looking like he saw a demon. Which he did.

“Mazikeen,” Chloe says seriously, “what was that?”

Maze smirks. “Nothing, I just showed him my true self.”

“Maze,” Chloe sighs, “I know you have a soft spot for the kid, but they aren’t your responsibility.”

“If their parents won’t take care of them then I will. Besides, I feel like I know them. I need to find out why.”

Chloe sighs, but she lets Maze win this conversation.

-

Maze and Chloe have five hours until four o’clock when they are supposed to pick up Ash, so they go back to the precinct. Dan is waiting for them when they get there. He smiles and directs them both to Ella.

Ella explains that the type of accelerant that started the fire is rare and that they have narrowed it down to three places. Dan and another detective are going to check them all out. Chloe and Maze are free to go with Ash for the rest of the day.

-

Only two classes left. Only two classes left, but Ben was in both of them. He gets up from his desk and makes his way over to Ash.

“Hey, Ashley. Do you know what happened to Jason?” His tone is mocking and his smirk stretches across his face.

Ash doesn’t look at him as they get up and ask the teacher if they can go to the bathroom. The teacher says yes but by her tone Ash can tell that she is not happy.

Ash slips out of the room and breathes a sigh of relief. It is quickly cut short by Ben walking out of the classroom.

“Thought you could run away from me? Did you tell the police anything? Did you?” His face is contorting in anger and he steps closer to them. He raises his fist and brings it down on Ash’s stomach.

They fall to the ground and Ben takes his time kicking them all over their body. Ash couldn’t do anything even if they wanted to. Yesterday’s bruise and cuts still burned, and some of them opened as Ben’s shoes made imprints all across their body.

They refused to make any noise even though their body felt like it was on fire.

“Don’t say anything,” he spits at them and Ash hears his footsteps as he walks away.

Ash lays there for a couple of minutes. They don’t like getting beaten up, but sometimes they feel that they deserve it somehow. They feel that their life doesn’t have enough bad to feel the way they do. They think that they feel horrible most of the time but most things in their life are better than others, so why should they fight back?

When they get up, they wince and try to cover up all of their bruises with their jacket. Their not successful, if the way everybody stares at them when they walk into class is to go by. Ash ignores the stares and sits down with only a slight flinch.

Ash waits patiently until their last class where Ben smirks at them but other than that, doesn’t do anything. The last bell rings and walks slowly and painfully to the front doors of the school. They wait for Jason to join them but then remember what happened. Ash freezes in place and tears crowd their eyes.

They have to get out of here. They rush out of the doors and make a sharp left, but they run into a solid figure.

“Ash?”

They look up and see Mazikeen. She looks concerned. Ash wipes their eyes and looks back down at the ground.

“honey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” they clear their throat, “I’m fine.”

“We both know that’s not true. What happened?”

Ash looks around at the students casting them glances and takes a step back from Mazikeen.

“Can we go somewhere else?”

“Yeah, of course. Let’s go.” Mazikeen walks Ash to a car and she opens the door for them. The detective is in the driver’s seat and she gives them a smile.

“Hey, Ash. What’s wrong?” Chloe notices the tears in their eyes and the bruises peeking out from their clothes. “Who did that to you?”

Mazikeen hadn’t noticed the bruises and the blood until now. She frowns and gently pulls up their sleeves. Ash flinches away from Maze and sits in the backseat of the car. “I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, Ash. Was it Ben? Did he do this?”

“Nothing happened,” Ash protests. “Please believe me, I’m fine.”

Chloe and Maze look at each other and Maze sighs. She closes the car door and opens the passenger door. She gets in and looks back at Ash. “I could hurt him for you, Ash. Just say the word.”

Chloe turns her head to Maze and glares. “No, you won’t, Maze. He’s still a kid. Just scaring him would be enough.”

“Oh, Decker. You’re rebellious today.” Maze chuckles sarcastically and Ash smiles.

“So,” Chloe changes the topic, “where are we headed?”

-

The car pulls up to an old, abandoned restaurant. Ash gets out of the car and walks up to the door. The lights are out inside but they can see the silhouettes of some teenagers in the dim lights.

Ash knocks three time in quick succession and one of the silhouettes moves towards them. The person opens the door and Ash recognizes Ronnie, a 19 year old girl that runs the place. She gives Ash a smile which quickly fades as she sees the Detective and Mazikeen behind them.

“They following you?” Ronnie nods toward the two women.

Ash quickly shakes their head and explains what is going on. Ronnie looks reluctant, but lets them all in. Chloe nods in thanks.

Ash recognizes most of the kids in the restaurant, so they lead the two women toward the oldest. His name is John, and he’s 18. Ash introduces him to Chloe and Maze.

He doesn’t give much useful information, so they move onto the next kid, Daniel. Daniel describes a man that has been coming around and looking for Jason recently. Chloe writes down all the information and thanks him.

Mazikeen and Chloe get ready to leave and Ash sits in one of the chairs at the bar. Mazikeen separates from Chloe and kneels by Ash.

“Hey, are you staying?”

“Yeah, my guardians don’t care where I spend my days as long as I return by 10. This is the closest I’ve been to home.”

“Okay,” Maze pulls a piece of paper out of the pocket of her leather jacket and gives it to them, “this has my number on it. Call me if you get anymore trouble.”

Ash nods and offers up a small smile. Maze returns it and stands up. “See you later, Ash.”

Ash watches as the two walk out of the restaurant and they sigh. They lean back into their chair and look to see Ronnie watching them. She walks to them and sits next to them. They both sit in silence as the seconds tick away.

“I’m sorry about Jason. He was a good kid.”

“Yeah, yeah he was.”

Ronnie pats Ash on their shoulder and walks away, leaving them alone. Alone again, tears gather in their eyes. But they don’t fall. They never fall.

-

Lucifer sits in Linda’s office with a smile on his face. He is describing what happened at the high school today. Linda is listening with a small smile.

“And then, Mazikeen smirks at him! As he’s whimpering in fear, she smirks at him with her demon face on! Ah, it reminds me of home.”

“Lucifer, Mazikeen used her demon face on a kid? Was that ethical?”

“He has been beating up two other children, one of them Maze has taken quite a liking to. Ash is a mystery.”

“So, Ash is the victim’s best friend, right?”

“Yes, yes, keep up. Mazikeen said that Ash smelled different. I feel it too. I don’t think they’re human.”

“So are they an angel or a demon?”

Lucifer looks puzzled, “That’s the thing, I’m not sure. I would know if they were and angel, and Mazikeen would know if they were a demon.”

“Are there any other possibilities?”

“Well, there are cherubims, leviathans, nephilims, and even some serpents that could be with us on this planet, but I don’t think they are any of those. I don’t remember seeing them with a lion and ox face or with jackal like features.”

Linda raises an eyebrow. “Okay, I get your point.”

“Ash is a mystery wrapped in a small body. Did I tell you that they’re only five foot three? They’re small for their age of 16.”

“You said that Mazikeen smelled blood and fear on them?” Linda is concerned for the child.

“Yes, we think that most of it was from Ben but I’m not sure if all of it was. I think it’s time for me to meet Ash’s guardians.” Lucifer smirks devilishly and stands up. He says goodbye to the good doctor and leaves the room.

-

Ella rushes around the lab, nodding her head to the music blasting through her headphones. She looks through the microscope at the small leather patch left at the scene. Then she moves to the database pulled up on a computer. She is jarred out of her thoughts when a hand is placed on her shoulder. She instinctively grabs the hand and pulls it over her shoulder, flipping the other person over her and slamming him on the ground. Ella pulls her headphones out of her ears and looks down at the person on the ground.

“Well, that was hot,” Mazikeen says with a smile from the ground.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” Ella helps Maze up and hugs her. “You scared me!”

“I’m fine, Ella. Just turned on.” Mazikeen says it with a smirk so Ella smiles and blushes.

“What did you need?”

“I was wondering if you could do a background check on Ash Marks’ biological parents?”

“Yeah sure, let me get to that after I’m done with this piece of leather.”

“You are amazing, Ella.”

Ella smiles and turns back to the computer. “I know.”


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter! Tying up some loose ends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might continue this if you enjoy, so leave messages!

“Chloe,” Dan calls as she steps into the precinct, “we found the place where the murderer got the accelerant. We went there and got a list of the buyers, there are only four of them.”

Chloe nods and takes the file that Dan hands her. She flips through it and recognizes one of the names. Jordan Bennett. Jason’s abusive father. That can’t be a coincidence.

She thanks Dan and calls Lucifer.

“Hello, detective. What can I do for you today?”

“We literally saw each other a couple of hours ago. Anyway, one of the people who bought the accelerant was Jordan Bennett. He’s Jason’s dad. His abusive dad.”

“Oh, what do you want me to do to him?”

“I don't want you to do anything except scare him. And help us solve the murder.”

“Fine, send me the address and I’ll meet you there.”

Chloe sighs and hangs up. She quickly texts Lucifer the address and walks towards the doors of the precinct. Before she can get there, Maze steps in front of her.

“Where are you going?”

Chloe sighs again and says, “Lucifer and I are going to go check out Jason’s father. You are not invited.”

“Oh, come on, Decker. I could help with the interrogation.” Maze smirks and takes a step closer to Chloe. “Please?”

Chloe’s eyes flicker to Maze’s lips but are back at her eyes before Maze can call her on it. “Fine,” she grits out.

“This will be fun.”

-

“Jordan Bennett, this is the LAPD, please open the door,” Chloe knocks on the door and waits for somebody to answer it.

A tall man throws the door open and says angrily, “What do you want? The LAPD already told me about what happened to my son.”

“May we come in?”

“No. What do you want?”

“We need to ask you some questions. We can do that here or at the station.”

Jordan sighs and glances at Lucifer and Mazikeen behind Chloe. “What do you need to know?”

“We noticed that you bought a certain fire accelerant at a store near here. That was the same accelerant used to kill your son.”

“Are you saying that you think I killed my son?” Jordan steps out from under the doorframe and Mazikeen steps in front of Chloe.

“Step back.”

“You can’t tell me what to do you-” Maze hits him in the throat and he collapses at her feet, gasping for breath.

“Maze!” Chloe pulls her away from the man, and bends down to see if he is okay.

In his anger, Jordan swings his fist as an attempt to hit her, but Chloe grabs his hand and pulls both his hands together behind his back. She takes out her cuffs and puts them on him, pulling him to his feet.

“You will be answering questions at the station.”

“That was hot,” Maze says for the second time today. Chloe ignores her, but Lucifer moves next to her and nods his agreement.

-

Ash is reading one of the books available for them in the restaurant when John comes up to them. They put down their book and look up in surprise.

“You know that cop, right?” he asks.

“Um, yeah I guess. Why?”

“She and two others just arrested Jason’s dad. Also, he matches who Daniel said came around looking for Jason. Just thought you should know.” He walks away, leaving Ash with the new information.

They get up from the chair and silently put the book away. They walk to Ronnie and wait for her to notice them.

“Hey, babe, what’s up?”

“Um, can I use the phone? I need to call someone.”

Ronnie frowns in concern, but hands over the phone that the occupants of the restaurant use if they don’t have one. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Everything’s fine.”

They smile and thank Ronnie before walking back to their chair. Ash takes out the card Maze gave them and dial the number into the phone. It rings twice before she picks up.

“Hello?”

“Hi, this is Ash?”

“Oh, hey Ash. Everything alright?”

“I heard that you arrested Jason’s dad earlier, and I was wondering if if was him who killed Jason? Because I know that Jason’s mom told the police that he hurt her and I didn’t know if the police took her seriously, so I needed to check-”

“Hey, calm down honey. We took him in for assaulting Decker, but he is our main suspect right now. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just have to go back to the house soon.”

“If you want, since you don’t have school tomorrow, I could pick you up and we could go do something.”

“Like what,” Ash says nervously.

“No, no, nothing like that, Ash. I could take you,” Ash hears Maze’s disgust clearly in her voice, “shopping. Gross.”

Ash laughs at that and Maze lets out a short laugh.

“Or,” she continues, “we could go to an actual restaurant and talk. You could use a distraction and I need someone to talk to.”

Ash finds themself smiling. “Okay, yeah.”

“Good, I’ll pick you up at nine tomorrow. Ash, have a good night, and be careful.”

“Thanks. You too, Mazikeen.”

Ash hangs up the phone with a smile. It quickly fades as they realise that they have to go back to their house now. They sigh and walk back to Ronnie. Ash hands her the phone.

“You going home, honey?”

“Yeah, in a minute.”

Ronnie looks toward John and Daniel and tells them, “Which one of you is going home soon? Ash needs someone to walk with.”

“I’ll be fine, Ronnie. I live close by.”

“All the more reason, love. Especially now, you need someone with you.”

Ash clears their throat of emotion and throws their hands around Ronnie. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Now, come on boys, who’s going with them?”

John and Daniel look at each other and both get up from the floor where they were sitting. “We’ll both go. Safety in numbers, right?”

“Yes, but if you let them get hurt, I’ll hurt you.” She added a glare for good measure. Ash extricates themself from Ronnie and follows the boys out the door.

They get home safe and say goodbye to Daniel and John at the door. They quietly sneak in and try to avoid Sam and Amy, their guardians. But their luck was never good.

“Ashley, you’re finally home. What happened at school today? There were police everywhere. You didn’t say anything, did you?”

“No, I didn’t say anything. Jason was killed.”

Sam stepped out of his bedroom and walked towards them with a look of disgust. “I never did like that girl.”

Ash grits their teeth at the misgendering, but they push through. “May I go to sleep now? It’s almost nine.”

“Yes, that’s fine. As long as you’ve done your chores and homework.”

Ash nods and rushes up the stairs. When they get to the top, they stop and catch their breath, then walk into their room. They collapse onto their bed.

Ash’s back hurts, and they’re not sure why, so they get up again and walk slowly to their bathroom. For once they aren’t in any rush. In the bathroom they pull up their shirt, avoid looking at their chest, and they turn around to see their back in the mirror. There are yellow lines running up their shoulder blades. They hadn’t noticed them before, so they knew that they were new.

When Ash runs their fingers along the lines, they hurt, so Ash tries to lower their shirt carefully and avoid moving it too much as they make their way back to bed. They lay on their stomach and try to sleep, but sleep never comes easy for Ash.

-

The interrogation with Jordan Bennett got them nowhere, and Chloe is starting to get angry. Which is bad, because when Chloe gets angry, she usually says stuff she doesn't mean. Like when she just yelled at Dan when he entered her personal space. Or when Ella tried to give her a hug and she backed up and shouted. Chloe’s especially not happy about that one.

“Decker,” Maze says as Chloe glares down at the file on her desk, “what did you do to Ella? She didn’t even react when I flirted with her. And her eyes are red like she’s been crying.”

Chloe sighs and looks up at Mazikeen. She looks genuinely worried. Chloe stands up and makes her way to the lab. Ella is sitting by the computer and staring at the screen, even though the screen is blank.

“Ella,” Chloe knocks on the open door, “can I talk to you?”

Ella jolts out of her seat and stands next to it while staring at Chloe. Her eyes are red and she hastily wipes away a few stray tears. “Hey,” her voice cracks.

Chloe moves toward Ella and hesitates before wrapping her in a hug. “I’m sorry, I overreacted. This case is getting to me.”

Ella relaxes into Chloe’s arms and whispers into her shoulder, “It’s okay. Do you need any help?”

“No, it just hits too close to home. Trixie is going to that school in the future.” Chloe extracts herself from Ella, but keeps her hands on Ella’s shoulders. “I just need to solve this case.”

“Such a touching moment,” Mazikeen interrupts, “can I join?” That gets Ella to laugh and Chloe to smile.

“Come here,” Ella says to Maze, “you big softie.” Maze slides into Ella’s arms and smirks at Chloe.

-

When Ash wakes up, the pain in their back has increased significantly, adding to the aches and bruises. They pull back the blankets and look at the clock on their dresser. It’s seven in the morning. Maze won’t be by to pick Ash up for two more hours. They push themself out of bed and make their way to their bathroom to take a shower and change.

As they take their shirt off, they notice that the yellow lines from the night before were not a dream, and that they have grown and turned golden. Ash ignores it and turns the shower on.

They stand in the spray of the scalding hot water for, at the least, half an hour. When they get out, the mirror has fogged up and they have an hour until Maze picks them up. Ash takes their time getting dressed. They throw on their regular basketball shorts and a baggy t-shirt with a tight sports bra underneath. Only thirty minutes left.

Ash makes their way down stairs and looks for their guardians. Sam and Amy don’t appear to be home, so they make their way to the kitchen to get water. They turn the tv on and the news feed comes up, with Jason’s death front and center. But it doesn’t use his real name, it uses his deadnames, and after a couple minutes, Ash has to turn it off.

They sit in silence until the doorbell rings. Ash rushes to the door and pulls it open to reveal Maze in her normal leather jacket.

“Hey, honey. Where are your hellhounds?” This makes Ash smile and duck their head.

“I don’t know. They’ll be back tonight.”

“Okay, you ready to go?”

“Yeah, where are we going?” Ash steps out of the house and locks the door behind them. Mazikeen leads them along the sidewalk.

“There’s this little library cafe near the club I work at with Lucifer. It has excellent breakfast food and and good hot chocolate.”

“Aren’t you a demon? Do you even eat?”

Mazikeen laughs at them but replies when they look embarrassed. “We eat. We also sleep. Don’t worry, it’s natural to have questions. Ask away.”

“Do you have horns or a tail? Do you have powers? And I never studied the bible, but isn’t Lucifer supposed to be in Hell?”

“No, I do not have horns or a tail. I have a little persuasion powers, I can mimic animal sounds, I am immortal, I have super strength, and I have super speed. And lastly, Lucifer is supposed to be in Hell, but he left because his Dad was being unfair. He and his brother, Amenadiel, live at Lux, the club Luci owns and that I work at.”

They arrive at the Cafe and Maze opens the door for Ash. They both walk in and the waitress waits for them to sit down before walking over. “What can I get you?”

Maze smiles at the woman and her eyes soften, she puts on a friendly voice and says, “Two hot chocolates and two blueberry muffins, please.”

The waitress blushes and stutters out a ‘right away.’

“What was that,” Ash asks as the waitress walks away.

“Sometimes,” Maze begins, “I don’t need my powers for persuasion.” She smirks and Ash laughs.

-

Chloe paces the floor of the precinct. She is one more interruption away from hurting someone, when Ella calls her name from the lab. She rushes in and finds Ella sitting at the computer with a smile on her face.

“I just found out how Jason died! He was injected with lethal amounts of morphine until he OD’d and then drenched him in the accelerant and burned him. We can trace the morphine!” Ella exclaims in excitement.

Chloe walks toward her, a smile stretching across her face. When she gets near enough, she pulls Ella into a hug.

“Thank you, Ella. What would we do without you?”

“Probably, never solve anything. What’s with the hug? Not that I’m complaining.”

Chloe sighs into Ella’s shoulder and replies, “I needed it, and they’re a part of your personality, so their growing on me.” She lets Ella go. “Now, trace the morphine and I will talk to you later.”

-

Lucifer walks out of the elevator to his flat and notices Amenadiel sitting on the couch.

“Ah, brother. You’re finally here. I have something to ask you.”

“Hello to you too, Luci.”

“Yes, yes, now to the favor. Can you ask around in the angel community for the parents of Ash Marks?”

Amenadiel gets up from the couch and walks over to Lucifer. “Ash Marks? As in the kid in the case you’re working?”

“Yes, the one and only. Now, will you help me?”

“I’ll look into it.” Amenadiel gets into the elevator.

-

“Wait, so you blew up his car?”

“Yeah,” Maze says with a smile, “he was trying to hurt Chloe, or so I thought at the time.”

Ash pauses and looks down at their almost finished hot chocolate.

“Ash, you can talk to me about anything. You know that right?”

“I mean, I guess so. I’ve only known you for two days though.”

“That is true, but there’s something special about you. I don’t know what yet, but I’m getting there.”

“I have to tell you something.” They pause. “My back has been hurting recently and when I checked it out, there were marks on my shoulder blades. And when I woke up this morning, they were brighter and they had spread. I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

Maze’s eyes widen in surprise but she smiles in an attempt to calm Ash down. “Calm down, honey. I think I know why that is happening to you. Why don’t we talk about this somewhere else? We should probably talk to Lucifer.”

Ash nods and Maze pays for their meal with a flirtatious smile to the waitress.

-

“Lucifer,” Chloe says as she walks into his flat, “we’ve had a break in the case. Ella found the cause of death and traced the morphine in his system to a specific hospital. The security cameras picked up two people stealing the morphine.”

“Ah, detective,” Lucifer says from the couch, “right on time. We’re about to get a visit from Mazikeen and the young Ash Marks.”

As Lucifer says this, the elevator opens and Ash and Maze step out.

“Chloe,” Maze says pointedly while looking at Lucifer, “what are you doing here? Not that I’m not a fan of your company.”

“Maze, why are you with a child that isn’t yours? Also, there’s been a new development in the case.”

“Lucifer, you know what we want to talk to you about. Do you really want Decker here?”

Chloe scoffs and looks back and forth between them. “I’m standing right here. I’m not letting Ash out of my sight until you return them home.”

“What,” Maze says as she steps closer to Chloe, “you don’t trust me with them?”

“You know that’s not it, Maze. They are only 16. They shouldn’t be here.”

“You guys know I can speak for myself, right? I have a problem that only Lucifer can fix.” Ash finally speaks, and the three turn their heads to them in surprise. “So, can we get on with this?”

Lucifer gets up from the couch and sees the look on Maze’s face when Ash stands up for themself. Lucifer smiles and says, “I can help, dear. What do you need?”

Ash falters before taking a couple of steps in his direction. “I need you to look at my back. Something’s happening to me.”

“Okay, come here, Ash.” Lucifer directs them to one of the bathrooms and positions them in front of the mirror. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Ash nods as Chloe and Maze stop at the doorway. They slowly pull up the back of their shirt and ignore the cold of Lucifer’s fingers as he traces the lines that have spread outside their sports bra.

“Ash,” Chloe breathes out, “what happened to you?”

They had forgotten about the bruises and cuts on their back and they freeze in embarrassment. Ash drops their shirt back into place and turns around. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, Ash.”

“Can we talk about this after, detective,” Lucifer butts in and looks Chloe in her eyes.

“What’s so serious that you’re ignoring the bruises on their back?” Chloe raises her voice.

“They’re an angel!” Lucifer shouts and everybody freezes.

“What?” Ash whispers.

“Lucifer, this has gone too far. They’re not an angel. For the last time, you are not the devil!”

“Hey,” Maze takes a step in front of Chloe, “calm down and back up. I know that you don’t believe in what he’s saying, but the proof is right in front of you.”

“Maze, not you too. I know you’re not a demon, you can drop it.”

Maze shoots a look at Lucifer and pulls Chloe out of the room. Despite Chloe’s protests, she pulls her onto the couch.

“I’m going to show you something,” Maze says seriously. “You are not allowed to run afterward, okay?”

Chloe nods suspiciously and her eyes widen as Maze puts on her demon face.

Chloe gasps and moves her hand up to Maze’s face. Her eyes ask a question and Maze nods. Chloe brings her hand to Maze’s face. She runs her fingers along the torn flesh. Maze’s eyes flutter closed and she breathes out heavily. It’s been so long since anybody, besides Lucifer, had touched her real face.

“It’s true. All of it,” Chloe mutters to herself as her eyes find Maze’s. “Lucifer’s the devil. You’re a demon. Oh my god, Charlotte Richards is Lucifer’s mother.”

Maze chuckles and clarifies, “Not anymore, Lucifer took care of that. She’s back to her old self.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Chloe sounds betrayed and Maze takes her hand from her face and pulls it into her own.

“Remember when Linda stopped talking to Lucifer and me? Lucifer had showed her his true face. So, I couldn’t tell you in fear of you running away.”

“Maze,” Chloe says gently, she holds Maze’s hand tighter, “I won’t run away. I’ll never run away from you.”

-

“I’m an angel?”

“Well, yes. Kind of.”

“Kind of?”

“One of your parents was an angel, but the other one was something else. We’re not sure yet.”

“So,” Ash pauses, “what’s wrong with my back?”

“I’m guessing you just recently turned 16?” He waits for them to nod and continues. “You’re coming into your wings. They’re starting to form.”

“I’m going to have wings?” Ash’s voice is incredulous. “Do you have wings?”

“Not anymore.” From the tone of his voice, Ash decides not to press the question.

“When are they going to form completely?”

“I have no idea. There’s never been a case of a half angel that’s not part human.” He looks excited now. “I need to call Amenadiel.”

Lucifer gives them a blinding smile and walks out of the room. Ash follows behind and hears Lucifer say, “Oh, joy, Maze has her real face out. Now it’s a party.”

Maze growls at him and he takes a step back. “Oh, I see. I’ve interrupted an emotional conversation. Go on, I’ll go call Amenadiel. Ash, do whatever you like.” Lucifer disappears into the elevator with one last smile, leaving Ash standing there. They look around awkwardly and their eyes land on Maze and Chloe sitting next to each other.

Maze’s face looks like it has been torn up and Ash guesses that that is her demon - or real - face.

The two women were looking at them with concern. Chloe is the first to speak.

“Do you want us to drop you back at your house?”

“Um, can you take me to the restaurant? I’d rather not be back at the house.”

Chloe nods and pulls herself off the couch. Maze follows her lead and the three of them make their way out of Lux. On the way, Chloe tries to make small talk, but fails. Then she remembers something.

“Ash, do your guardians hurt you?”

Ash freezes in place and ducks their head.

“No.” They continue walking a little ahead of Maze and Chloe.

“Ash,” Maze says softly as she stops Ash from walking forward, “it’s not your fault if they do. I need you to understand that.”

“I know. But they don’t hurt me.” The lie tastes bitter on their tongue, but it isn’t all a lie. They usually don’t hurt them.

The three continue walking in silence for the rest of the way. When they get to the restaurant Ronnie opens the door for Ash and nods at the two women in thanks.

-

“Luci,” Amenadiel says as Lucifer walks to the bar of Lux, “I have information for you.”

“And I you, brother. Young Ash is part angel. They’re finally growing into their wings.”

“I thought so,” Amenadiel sighs. “This is bad. I asked around and I found out that Ash is linked to Lokai. If she finds out you’re talking to Ash, there’s no telling what she’ll do. You need to make a deal with her. Or at the very least talk to her.”

“Very well, but first, we have to do the opposite.” Lucifer smirks and leads Amenadiel out of Lux.

“Where are we going, brother?”

“To Ash’s house.”

-

“Maze?” Ella calls from the lab. Maze looks up and sees the woman waving her over.

She heaves herself up from Chloe’s desk and strolls to where Ella is.

“I found something on Ash’s biological parents.” She pulls up a screen on her computer and Maze sees a picture of a man and a woman laughing with a child.

“Their names were Aira Marks and Urnan Marks. I would think they’re demons with those names. Almost like you Maze.”

“Wait, what?” Maze asks, confused. She doesn’t remember telling Ella she is a demon.

“Was I not supposed to know that you’re a demon?” Ella freezes with a smell abashed smile.

“How did you figure it out?”

“Well, first of all, your name is Mazikeen. Second of all, you hang out with Lucifer. I’m not stupid.”

At that, Maze smirks. “I never said you were. Actually, I think you’re very smart.” She says it to get a blush out of Ella, but she still means it.

“Aw, thanks Maze. But enough complimenting me, back to the information,” Ella says with a smile. “Aira and Urnan dropped baby Ash off at a hospital near here. Then, they disappeared and weren’t seen again. Until a year ago. They were seen near the bar Eclipse.”

“Eclipse? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, why?”

Mazikeen curses and says, “That’s a demon club. I’ve been there a couple of times.”

“Wait,” Chloe says from the doorway, surprising the other two women, “there are demon clubs?”

“Yeah, most demons stay in Hell, but some travel up here and need a drink. I’m going to go check it out later.”

-

Lucifer knocks on the door to the house and waits impatiently for Sam to open the door. Amenadiel stands beside him with a frown. He didn’t want to be pulled into this, but he has no choice. The sky has darkened significantly since they left and Amenadiel has a feeling it is about to rain.

“What do you want?” Sam asks angrily as he opens the door.

“Hello, we’re here to talk to you about your child, Ash Marks?”

At the name, Sam’s face gets angrier and he tries to close the door. Amenadiel stops him by pulling the door open with his angel strength.

“Sir,” Lucifer says, his voice filled with persuasion, “do you beat your child?”

The man staggers backward and gawks at Lucifer, but he answers despite himself. “Only when she makes me angry. Which is most of the time.”

Rain starts to fall and the lightning streaks across the sky.

Lucifer steps toward Sam and grabs his shoulders. “You’re lucky I don’t have my devil face right now or you’d be begging for me to kill you.”

-

“Ella,” Chloe says while looking at the recording of the two people taking the morphine, “have you tried looking at the reflections in the glass cases for the people’s faces?”

“Yeah… but, I haven’t tried to piece all of the reflections together. Oh my god! Chloe you’re a genius! Thank you!”

Ella pulls up a software on her computer and pieces the faces together slowly. She runs the faces through facial recognition. It takes a minute before the computer beeps and signals that it found a match. Ella quickly pulls up the names and freezes.

“Oh no.”

“What?” Chloe walks up to her and reads the screen. “Oh, shit.”

-

When Maze and Chloe disappear out of sight from the restaurant, Ronnie pulls Ash aside.

“After the LAPD released Jason’s dad, he came by here looking for Daniel. He swore that Daniel was the one who told the police about him. After Mr. Bennett left, Daniel left and never came back. I’m worried.”

Ash stares up at Ronnie with wide eyes. “Why didn’t you tell the police?”

“If they couldn’t hold Mr. Bennett for more than a couple of hours, what are they going to do with no evidence that he took Daniel?”

“I don’t know, but we have to do something.”

“Sometimes, Ash, we can’t save everybody.

Ash walks away with a sigh and sits in their regular seat. When they look outside, they notice that the sky is darkening quickly. Ash loves rain. If they’re in a bad mood, rain always manages to calm them down. It’s mostly the sound of rain, but even seeing the water streak down the sky can improve their mood. But today, the rain seems more like foreshadowing then comforting.

As the first raindrops start to fall, Ash realises that they need to get back to the house before the rain gets to bad. So, they get up and borrow one of the raincoats that Ronnie keeps by the door. They try to run but quickly realise that if they do, they’ll slip.

As Ash comes up to their house, they see a two cars parked in front of it. One, they recognize as Chloe’s car and the other is Lucifer’s. They pick up speed and approach the door to the house. Chloe and Lucifer are standing next to a man that Ash guesses is Amenadiel. Next to the three, on the ground, is Sam and Mr. Bennett in handcuffs.

Lucifer and Chloe are talking to Sam about where Amy is, but Ash can tell that he won’t tell them.

“What’s happening?” they ask as they get to the doorway.

They all turn to see Ash covered in a too big raincoat, standing in the pouring down rain. They look small and cold and it’s all Chloe can do to not run to them and pull them into the house with a warm hug.

“Ash,” Lucifer says softly, “come inside, love.”

Ash follows his instructions and comes to stand next to the three adults. Sam snears at Ash and thrashes against the hold of the handcuffs. Chloe steps threateningly towards him and he stops with a glare.

“Lucifer, what happened?”

“San and Amy are the ones who killed Jason,” he explains quietly. “But, Jordan here, finished the job.”

“What about Daniel?” They sound panicked and they try to get out the words all at once.

“Daniel?” Chloe asks. “From the restaurant?”

Ash nods. “He disappeared after Mr. Bennett came looking for him. Ronnie thinks he took him.”

Chloe nods and tells Amenadiel and Lucifer to search the house.

“I already called in police backup. They’re almost here.”

As Ash and Chloe watch the two men in handcuffs, three cop cars pull up and five police officers rush out. They pull Sam and Jordan to their feet roughly and march them through the pouring rain slowly to the cars. Chloe tells the remaining cops to help search the house, and Ash watches as they run off. They barely hear one of the cops tell Chloe that they’ll find him.

Later, Amenadiel emerges from the basement with Daniel and Ash’s tears finally break free. Chloe wraps her arms around them to keep them warm and to try to stop the tears. Eventually, Lucifer picks them up and carries them to his car, where he drives them to Lux with Amenadiel in the back seat.

Chloe and Mazikeen meet them upstairs and the two bring them into the bathroom so Ash can get out of their soaked clothes.

Ash doesn’t know why they’re crying, but they know they can’t stop. They change slowly and open the door to the bathroom. Maze’s eyes meet Ash’s and she makes her way to them to hug them. Ash melts into the hug and the tears start to slow.

-

As soon as Chloe called Maze, she knew something had happened. She sped on her motorcycle to Lux and waited impatiently as the elevator slowly opened and she walked out. Chloe was waiting there for Maze. Chloe saw the look on her face and soothed her fears. Nothing had happened to Ash. They were fine. They’ll be here any second.

So now, as Ash cries in her arms, she wishes she could do something to soothe their fears. But holding them seems to help, so Maze doesn’t let go until their tears stop falling.

“You’re okay, Ash,” Chloe says from beside them. “We got Daniel out in time and the LAPD is searching for Amy as we speak. We’ll find her.”

The rain outside has slowed with Ash’s heartbeat and now the only reason for the dark sky is that the sun is setting.

“I have to go, but we can sort out everything in the morning, okay?”

Ash nods to Chloe and watches as she walks over to thank Amenadiel and Lucifer, then gets into the elevator with a small smile directed at Ash. They smile back and extract themself from Maze.

Maze ruffles their hair with a comforting chuckle. “What are we going to do with you?”

“I have no idea.”

“Ash,” Lucifer calls from the couch, “this is my brother, Amenadiel.” He gestures to Amenadiel next to him. “He is asking around to find out who your angel parent is.”

Maze butts in, “I know have information about their parents. I had Ella run a background check on them and she found who they are. Ash’s mom is Aira and their dad is Urnan. They disappeared when Ash was a child and were sighted a year ago at the club Eclipse.”

Everybody looks at Maze with surprise.

“Um,” Ash says, “sorry to interrupt but, where am I sleeping tonight?”

The adults in the room glance at each other in thought.

“Tonight,” Maze begins, “you can come home with me. Tomorrow we can figure out the rest.”

Ash agrees, and they say their goodbyes before following the demon to the elevator.

The next day will be filled with fear for the future, but at least they are safe for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s over! Leave reviews!

**Author's Note:**

> Leave reviews please!


End file.
